Montenegrin Capital Struggles to Lure Tourists

Montenegrin Capital Struggles to Lure Tourists

Montenegro’s capital city aims to attract more foreign visitors, as most tourists currently just pass through Podgorica on their way to coastal resorst or ski centres in the north.

Dusica Tomovic

BIRN

Podgorica

Amid a sharp drop in the number of foreign arrivals in Podgorica in the past few years, the city assembly this week will discuss ways to boost tourism in the city, including attracting members of the Montenegrin diaspora and foreign media.

Tourist agencies are being urged to brainstorm on best ways to overcome perceived weak points and fully tap the city’s tourism potential.

Some proposed measures are to boost tourism information centres and open new information points all over town during the summer tourist season.

Other ideas include organizing promotional trips for students, members of the diaspora and foreign media, promoting the most attractive sites.

One of the smallest capital cities in Europe, Podgorica is only a low-key tourist attraction, as foreign tourists are mostly interested in the beach resorts or ski centres in the northern region.

According to the latest report on tourism in Podgorica, which will be discussed by the assembly, the capital earned only 12.5 million euros from tourism in 2014, representing only 1.87 per cent of the country’s revenue from tourism last year.

Foreign visitors to Podgorica in 2014 represented only 4.6 per cent of the total number of foreign tourists who visited the Adriatic country.

Montenegro earned about 730 million form tourism in 2014 and the country was visited by 1.5 million tourists.

Referring to the Central Bank’s data, the report noted that Podgorica’s share in the total revenue from foreign tourists had dropped sharply in ten years.

Another problem is brief stays. According to the report, most tourists to the Montenegrin capital are in transit or are on business. “The average stay of foreign tourists in the capital was less than two days,” the report said.